FridayOrdinarily before a race I would rest Friday and run easily Saturday, but the forecast is for heavy rain tomorrow.11:30 - machines and core at the gym.4:00 - 7k. 2.5k easy, 1k @5:00, stretching, 4 x 500m in 2:00 with 500m jogs.Weather: 13C/55FWeight: 60.5kg

SaturdayRest. Cold rain - hope it stops tomorrow.

Sunday (rain stopped, then got warm, then got too warm!)Toda Half Marathon. Toda is in Saitama, just north of Tokyo. Takes 2 hours from door to race. The race starts and finishes in a huge park and goes around Lake Saiko twice. There is also a 5k and a 10k. It’s a good race, very well organized, free shuttle buses from and back to the station, quite a few water stations, people telling you to be careful of tiny bumps, etc. The course is basically flat, just two small hills that you go up and down twice each. It’s a two loop course and it doubles back (180 degree turn) four times, so you can see who is ahead of you, which is good if you are aiming for a top place in your age group or you want to wave to your friends (or you just want to feel superior to all the slower people).

My time was 1:25:26, good for 2nd in my age group, out of 207 men. First was 1:24:02, second was about 1:30 behind me.I was about 38th overall out of 2,540 men.

5K splits were 19:53, 20:07, 20:24, 20:35, 4:25 (the 20th k was 4:17. I did kick the last 1.1, but those distances may have been wrong).

I was actually aiming for 1:24, but the exceptionally warm weather slowed me down, I think. It was 22C/72F...or more in the sun. I was working very hard the last 6.1k, but getting slower instead of faster.

(I was hoping for about 14C/57F. It was 14 at 8am, but at 9:00 the sun came out and by 11:00 it was hot. A beautiful day, but a bit too warm for good racing.)

Nice gifts and prizes. All participants received a nice large hooded rain cape. Top 6 in each category (10-year age groups) got prizes. I got a good Mizuno backpack, a nice cellphone strap (with a pearl!) and an assortment of fruit (to be sent to me). And a big medal.

7 comments:

Great result Bob. Not what you expected perhaps but you can't change the weather and neither could the other 2,539 guys. 38th overall is excellent - nearly as impressive as 2nd out of 207 in your AG - you have to be well pleased with that.

That's a U.S. sized medal! Good race Bob. Can't help the weather - you would have held 4s on a cool day. The rain cape will come in handy for the next Tokyo marathon .) Also, think you mean 3rd was 1:30 behind.

Hi i am kavin, its my first time to commenting anywhere, when i read this paragraph i thought i could also create comment due to this sensible piece of writing.http://mymotorcyclemonster.com/index.php?do=/blog/56384/a-english-tuition-tutor-will-help-uou-deliver-more-appropriate/http://grouprescue.com/groups/locating-singapore-tuition/

I ran marathons between the ages of 35 and 37, gave them up, ran some more in my early 60s, and have given them up again. Too painful (maybe because I tried to run them too fast) and I got tired of all the long training runs, which also put too much stress on the body. So I'm back to tempo and interval training for 10Ks and Halfs, which I enjoy a lot. Winning, or finishing near the top, in my age group is fun too. Hope to run some big races in various countries and crush the competition. :)